About this book
Félix de Azara’s Correspondencia Oficial e Inedita sobre la Demarcacion de Limites entre el Paraguay y el Brasil delivers an unvarnished, eyewitness account of one of South America’s most contested border disputes. This history audiobook compiles Azara’s unpublished correspondence and field notes documenting the fraught demarcation following the 1777 treaty, exposing cartographic errors, diplomatic wrangling, and the practical challenges of identifying rivers and landmarks in the frontier wilderness.
Azara chronicles his investigations into misidentified waterways—long-confused names like Yaguarey/Igurey and what was thought to be the Corrientes—tracing how ambiguous maps and negotiators’ mistakes fueled Portuguese-Spanish tensions. He recounts persistent obstruction by Portuguese commissioners, bureaucratic indifference from his own authorities, and the political fallout that led him to accuse the Paraguayan governor of bribery. The narrative blends meticulous surveying, legal argument, and vivid scenes of fieldwork, offering rare primary-source insight into colonial cartography, diplomacy, and the making of national borders.
Ideal for listeners of history, diplomatic studies, cartography, and Latin American colonial affairs, this audiobook illuminates how contested ground and contested truths shaped modern boundaries—and why archival voices like Azara’s still matter.
